Audie Finalist – Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt

Narrated by Ashford McNab

Brenda’s Take

Let me start by saying that Ashford McNab’s delivery of the dedication of this book was so perfect that even though I hadn’t listened to her before, I knew she was going to be great. :D

Scandalous Desires is my first Elizabeth Hoyt read since The Raven Prince despite the latter title being a favorite of mine. My only excuse is that Historical romance is no longer my genre of choice. I was reminded of how much I enjoyed Ms. Hoyt’s prose and narrator Ashford McNab enhanced said prose in nearly every way making this a wonderful listening experience.

The setup of this story was interesting with a pirate living in London instead of on the high seas – then again Charming Mickey O’Connor is a river pirate. He is surrounded by both his riches and his loyal men in what is referred to as the palace. Into this intimidating atmosphere with its sumptuous décor, furnishings and treasures lying about – not to mention the thugs – marches widowed Silence Makepeace. Usually a quiet woman, she is fired by the love of a baby, her foster daughter Mary Darling.

Ashford McNab has no problem bringing the opening scene expressively to life with a feel for the atmosphere and the personalities of those participating right down to her performance of toddler Mary Darling. Children, particularly toddlers, tend to be given voices that don’t really fit but Mary Darling’s baby voice and personality were superb. Silence was also articulated well as the generally somber woman she is until riled. The remaining cast of characters from maid to thief were masterfully performed until we come to … well let’s talk about accents first.

Do I know if accents are genuine? No – but I am a fan of accents and found all those handled within this story notably pleasing as Ms. McNab slides seamlessly between each character be they Irish or English, rich or poor, with accents consistently in order. Mickey’s favorite word – Jaysus – made me smile every time. Having read parts of his dialogue in eBook format, I know that listening was a far better choice in smoothly getting through the thick Irish written with a lavish hand into his speech.

My one issue was with the timbre of Mickey’s voice – as delightful as it was to listen to his lower class Irish roll out so smoothly, it was hard to picture this huge tough pirate with that light tone of voice. Instead I was reminded of another famous Mickey at times, so I had to work at seeing him as a hero.

We quickly find that Mickey O’Connor has set Silence up with the purpose of getting her into his life by leaving his newborn daughter a year earlier at the foundling home Silence and her brother manage. More than long enough for Silence to become so attached to the baby that she is willing to live under his unsavory roof to care for the child she discovers is his by blood though still hers in heart. I bought this part of the story knowing the strength of a mother’s love and I admired Silence’s dogged determination to stand up to Mickey. Her kind ways soon have her winning over her gruff guards, the staff and a frighteningly large dog.

Henchmen Harry and Bert, whom Mickey assigns as Silence’s guards, were standouts as Ashford McNab’s understanding of and embodiment of their characters added humor with her vocalization of them, making for pure entertainment – they were a highlight of this story. As was the feeling of being present she engenders with her spot-on pacing – allowing us to see each scene be it tense and angry, light and funny, panicked and fearful, or emotional and tender.

In the end while I enjoyed listening to this audiobook, I didn’t buy the romance or the HEA. I wanted to as there was much to like within Scandalous Desires but learning the history of what Mickey had done to Silence for no better reason than he could? I’m trying for no spoilers here so, in general, the big reveal added to an unrealistic turn-around plus the ultimate second chance ending? I left the story shaking my head over the final results while not regretting one minute of the listen.

Brenda

Narration: A-

Book Content: B

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in – sometimes burning ears

Violence: Escalated Fighting

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Hachette Audio

Lea’s Take

Elizabeth Hoyt is one author who always provides me with at least a B read and I’m pleased to say that several have rated an A. That said, the Maiden Lane series has proven that range with the first – Wicked Intentions earning a strong A, the second – Notorious Pleasures a B-, the third – Scandalous Desires a B+, and the 4th – Thief of Shadows coming in at a B- … barely. Sandwiched between two of my less favorite tales may have given Scandalous Desires an extra boost. But one advantage all four titles have in audio is narrator Ashford MacNab. The beautiful, lyrical cadence of her delivery definitely elevates the written word to a higher level.

Hoyt is known for writing romances with an edge and when she combines that with a truly bad boy hero, I’m completely ready for the adventure. And Mickey O’Connor is not your typical bad boy in need of redemption – even the possibility of such redemption is debatable. In Notorious Pleasures, Mickey most deliberately publicly shames Silence, causing her husband to lose trust in her. Her family and friends don’t believe her when she explains that nothing happened the night she was forced to spend with the notorious Mickey O’Connor. Now a widow, Silence runs an orphanage with her brother and has grown particularly close to an abandoned baby, Mary Darling.

At this point, further describing the setup tends to make Scandalous Desires sound just a bit ridiculous as you see, Mickey is a pirate. And he’s the father of Mary Darling. And kidnaps her from the orphanage. When Silence comes looking for her, he gives her an ultimatum – if she wants to continue caring for the child, she must move into his extravagant palace (of sorts) down by the docks. Yeah, it sounds overly melodramatic, but it works when you don’t condense it into one paragraph and when Ashford MacNab is consistently delivering those happenings with well-placed emphasis thereby maintaining the story’s context.

If you can’t tell, I absolutely love Ms. MacNab’s spellbinding narration. It has a sort of restrained energy – she’s not over the top but rather there’s a feeling of her weaving the story around the listener.

Mick’s attitude and hard life are reflected in her narration. Although she doesn’t use a deep range when Mick is talking, there is no problem recognizing his voice with his accent that reflects his upbringing, his occupation as a pirate (is it possible to sound like a pirate?), and the fact that he is Irish. I heard his sarcasm, his willingness to give (occasionally), and especially enjoyed those times he decides to speak mockingly in an upper crust manner. It all works and is highly effective.

The children, the thieves, Silence’s brother Winter, and Silence all are fully-voiced and performed as written. I heard children. I heard men who know no other way to earn a living than by taking from others. Winter sounds like the man getting ready to show the world just who he is (only those following the series will understand that statement). And I heard the subdued Silence cloaked in strength.

I was disappointed to see that Ms. MacNab does not narrate the fifth in the Maiden Lane series, Lord of Darkness. Therefore, I haven’t purchased it … yet. Although I find it perfectly acceptable to change narrators from one book to the next in a series (if new leads are featured in each book), I’ll greatly miss her. She is the voice of the Maiden Lane series.

Lea Hensley

Narration: A

Book Content: B+

Melinda’s Take

Scandalous Desires is book 3 in the Maiden Lane series. While I really enjoyed Hoyt’s first series, Princes, and pretty much enjoyed the second series, The Legend of the Four Soldiers, I have not exactly warmed up to Maiden Lane. The pious Makepeace family hasn’t produced the kinds of heroes and heroines I like to read about. I made it through Scandalous Desires in print, and have not read any of the rest in the series.

However, it is nominated for an Audie for Best Romance in 2012, so I listened to what the industry considers one of the top 5 Romance Audiobooks this weekend. Silence Makepeace Hollingbrook put her life and her virtue in the hands of pirate Charming Mickey O’Connor in one of the earlier books – she went to Mickey to get him to return her husband’s cargo that the pirate had stolen. He made a bargain with her: if she would spend one night with him, he would give the ill-gotten gains back. That was the beginning of the end of her relationship with her husband, who wouldn’t believe that nothing carnal happened that one night. When Scandalous Desires opens, Silence is now a widow, taking care of the toddler Mary Darling who was left at the orphanage the Makepeace family runs.

The toddler turns out to be Mickey’s illegitimate daughter, and he kidnaps her back in order to protect her from his worst enemy. He makes another bargain with Silence: she can live with him to take care of Mary Darling. We learn that Mickey had a Dickensian childhood – beaten and forced to steal and worse just to be able to eat. As an older teen, he became a river pirate and now lives on the tithing and booty he gets from this life. But – of course – he’s a pirate with a heart of gold. And Silence is a widow with a soft spot for pirates and children.

I still find Hoyt’s prose to be entertaining, even with the constant Irish pirate dialect. Where I found myself thinking about my grocery list – did I need to add bleach? – was when it felt a little too melodramatic. She was all “no, no, no” and he was all “yes, yes, yes” and then she was all “oh Michael, oh my god” and then she was all “if you love me, you’ll marry me and stop pirating for me” and even though I agreed he needed to give up pirating, I wasn’t happy with her insisting on it instead of his coming to the realization himself.

Let’s talk about the narration. Ashford McNab is apparently new to me, although I was sure I had listened to her before. I found ten listings at Audible, and googling didn’t bring any more information. The reviews at Audible were almost all very positive, so maybe it’s just me: she wasn’t bad but I didn’t find it at all inspiring. She did a good enough job reading Hoyt’s Irish-pirate dialogue, but she doesn’t have a low range, so her hero voice isn’t differentiated by range at all. She does have a number of different voices – Bert and Harry and the various other characters – and accents. The production quality is good – no repeated phrases or other oddities.

Melinda

Narration: B-

Book Content: B-